Showing posts with label Shari Lapena. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shari Lapena. Show all posts

Tuesday, 11 July 2023

#Blogtour Everyone Here is Lying by Shari Lapena

It's a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour Everyone Here is Lying by Shari Lapena.

About the Author

Shari Lapena is one of the best-known thriller writers working today. Every one of her thrillers has been a Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller. She has spent a total of 76 weeks in the top 10 and has sold over 7 million copies across all titles and formats worldwide. Her debut, The Couple Next Door, was the overall bestselling fiction title in the UK in its year of publication and has been optioned for TV by Paramount. For more information about Shari and her books, you can visit Shari’s website here: sharilapena.com or follow @sharilapena on Twitter

About the book

Welcome to Stanhope - a safe neighbourhood. A place for families. - William Wooler is a family man, on the surface. But he's been having an affair, an affair that ended horribly this afternoon at a motel up the road. So when he returns to his house, devastated and angry, to find his difficult nine-year-old daughter Avery unexpectedly home from school, William loses his temper.

Hours later, Avery's family declare her missing. - Suddenly Stanhope doesn't feel so safe. And William isn't the only one on his street who's hiding a lie. As witnesses come forward with information that may or may not be true, Avery's neighbours become increasingly unhinged. - Who took Avery Wooler? Nothing will prepare you for the truth.


Review

This would make great on screen viewing. You can envision the guilt and panic of the impulsive father - the man caught between love and duty. The man who flies off the handle far too easily. Was keeping his secret enough to warrant the most despicable of crimes.

It's a twisted layered read that will make the reader question every person, each moment every character has clarified to prove they are innocent of a crime that is yet to be a established. They create a  scenario which makes us doubt them, because the majority seem to have a valid reason to commit a crime to keep their secrets, mistakes and lack of loyalty secret.

I thought the opening gambit in the kitchen between Avery and William was quite clever. His actions suggest a scenario or a willingness to act on impulse, a lack of restraint that could mean the difference between injury and perhaps even death. Is his secret really worth killing for?

It's a driven, fast-paced psychological thriller with a the vibe of a really well-known book then film, but revealing which one would give away the the most important part of the plot. This author always knows how to keep the audience riveted and guessing. It could have been anyone, they all seem to have a reason, right?

Buy Everyone Here is Lying at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏:  Transworld Digital; pub date 6 July 2023. Buy at Amazon com.

Saturday, 7 August 2021

#BlogTour Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena


 It's a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena. 
'The new unputdownable thriller from the 'queen of the one-sit read' and multi-million-copy bestselling author of The Couple Next Door. Her most original and twisty book to date. When an elderly couple are found murdered, could their children be responsible?'

About the Author

Shari Lapena worked as a lawyer and as an English teacher before writing fiction. Her debut thriller, The Couple Next Door, was a global bestseller, the bestselling fiction title in the UK in 2017 and has been optioned for television. Her thrillers A Stranger in the House, An Unwanted Guest, Someone We Know and The End of Her were all Sunday Times and New York Times bestsellers. Follow @sharilapena on Twitter, Visit sharilapena.com

About the book

In this family, everyone is keeping secrets - even the dead. In the quiet, wealthy enclave of Brecken Hill, an older couple is brutally murdered hours after a tense Easter dinner with their three adult children. Who, of course, are devastated.

Or are they? They each stand to inherit millions. They were never a happy family, thanks to their vindictive father and neglectful mother, but perhaps one of them is more disturbed than anyone knew. Did someone snap after that dreadful evening? Or did another person appear later that night with the worst of intentions? That must be what happened. After all, if one of the family were capable of something as gruesome as this, you'd know. Wouldn't you?

Review

When a wealthy couple is viciously murdered their immediate family members fall under suspicion, especially the adult children they had dinner with a few hours before their death. Far from being an example of close loving relationships, the family is a snake pit of envy, desperation and a lack of genuine positive interaction.

The general vibe, both dysfunctional and malevolent, reminded me a lot of what family can disintegrate into. It's this realistic imagery of often contentious relationships between siblings and parents that gives this read an extra bit of spice, and the ending is exactly right and on par with the malicious intent that runs through the story.

Lapena always gives readers an uncomfortable window seat into human nature. It's not always pleasant or morally correct, but it is an honest representation of what we are capable of and the way some of us conduct ourselves. When you combine that thought with the general idea of family the majority tends to have, then it's will be no wonder if this raises some eyebrows.

It's a delightfully dark and menacing domestic thriller, and the author gives the story the ending this family absolutely deserves.

Buy Not a Happy Family at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏ : ‎ Transworld Digital pub date 27 July 2021 - Bantam Press; pub date 5th August 2021 / Hardback / £14.99. Buy at Amazon com.